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Residents of Nashville, Tennessee who were fulfilling their civic duty were shocked to find Taylor Swift among their fellow would-be jurors.

Swift posed for photos with a number of the star-struck prospective jurors, and the images spread rapidly online with users expressing surprise that one of America's biggest celebrities would spend her morning doing something as monotonous as jury duty.

One widely-shared image came from a young fan of Swift's with the caption: "My mom just casually has jury duty with Taylor SWIFT!!"

The 26-year-old pop star was conspicuously absent from the glitzy MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night in New York.

In past years she had been both an honoree and the subject of controversy, most notably in 2009 when Kanye West stormed the stage to decry the fact that Swift had been selected for an award ahead of Beyonce Knowles.

West made reference to that infamous moment during Sunday's show, joking that he was "always wishing for Beyonce to win".

While Swift's absence was the subject of a great deal of speculation, it apparently allowed her to rise bright and early to travel to the courthouse.

Tracy Bates, another would-be juror, tweeted that she had been picked on the same jury panel as Swift.

She posted a picture of an autograph Swift had given her, as well as a video of the pop star conversing with the other members of the jury pool.